With the help of donors and sponsors, the UpValley Family Centers' Holiday Assistance Program served more than 400 households in 2020, including at this distribution event in Calistoga.
Families line up in their cars to receive holiday assistance from the UpValley Family Centers in the parking lot of the former St. Helena Catholic School.
In December, the UpValley Family Centers marked the start of the holiday season by hosting a pair of festive drive-through events to provide Upvalley families with a bounty of groceries, gifts, and gift cards. Between these St. Helena and Calistoga distributions, the Upvalley Holiday Assistance Program served more than 400 households this year.
Among them was Yadira’s. A single mom to two kids, she lost her job at a local hotel when the pandemic began last March. She’s been struggling to provide for her kids ever since — and to add insult to injury, she was forced to evacuate twice this past summer.
The LNU Lightning Complex Fire kept her away from home for a week; shortly after, the Glass Fire displaced her family for a full 15 days. The evacuations depleted what little was left of her savings, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to give her kids the kind of Christmas they deserved after such a challenging year.
The Upvalley Holiday Assistance distribution made a big difference for Yadira: it meant that she could prepare a warm, bright, and special Christmas meal for her daughters — and even surprise them with a gift or two.
December is always a bleak time of year for low-wage workers in Napa’s wine and hospitality industry. As the work winds down and seasonal jobs come to an end, many families struggle to keep their house warm and put food on the table; let alone to purchase holiday gifts for their children.
Capping a year of truly unprecedented challenges for Napa Valley residents, the prospect of this December looked bleaker than ever, leaving more families than ever to wonder how they’d make it through the holidays.
Every year, UpValley Family Center coordinates with the Napa County Holiday Assistance Coalition to distribute groceries and gifts to struggling households in Calistoga, St. Helena, Angwin, and surrounding regions. It’s a complicated logistical undertaking even under normal circumstances, and this year was forced to contend with the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Not to be deterred, this year’s Upvalley Holiday Assistance Distribution was a genuine community-driven effort, made possible by contributions from partner agencies, local businesses, service clubs, and many individual donors and volunteers.
Thanks to the generosity of these supporters, the 2020 Holiday Assistance Distribution provided 460 Upvalley families and seniors with a box full of canned goods, fresh produce, and a turkey.
Every child up to age 12 received a toy; every teen received a gift card. Each household was provided with additional gift cards, which could be used to purchase household necessities or holiday gifts. All was distributed at a pair of COVID-safe drive-through events on Friday, Dec. 18, and Saturday, Dec. 19 — one in St. Helena, and one in Calistoga.
This year’s Holiday Assistance Program served families who had never before needed this kind of assistance — Norma and her husband, for example, who had long known about the UpValley Family Centers and its Holiday Assistance Program, but who had always had stable jobs and prided themselves on being able to provide for their family.
In September 2020, however, both of them lost their jobs as a result of the Glass Fire. Shortly afterward, Norma found out she was pregnant. She and her husband have been actively looking for work, but in light of the ongoing pandemic, few businesses are hiring.
Norma reached out to the Family Centers for assistance, and was deeply grateful for the bounty she received.
On behalf of Norma, Yadira, and the other families who received groceries and gifts, the UpValley Family Centers is deeply grateful to Toys 4 Tots, the Salvation Army, Community Action Napa Valley (CANV), the S.H. Cowell Foundation, St. Helena Catholic Church and St. Vincent De Paul Society, Cal Mart, the St. Helena Fire Department, Grace Episcopal Church, Calistoga Community Chest, the St. Helena Montessori School, Bodega Shipping Company, Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD), the Calistoga Chamber of Commerce, G&L Seiberlich Co. LLP, Calistoga Rental Homes LLC, Lawer Estates, Smiths St. Helena Pharmacy, RLS Middle School, the Elmshaven Seventh-day Adventist Church, and many individual donors and volunteers who made this year’s Holiday Assistance distribution possible.
If you’d like to learn more about the UpValley Family Centers’ Holiday Assistance and year-round emergency assistance program, please call (707) 965-5010.
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UpValley Family Centers’ Holiday Assistance Program served 460 families - Napa Valley Register
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